"Why Believe in God" ad campaign

[David E]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

And saying that religion should continue to be accepted because it's the contextual basis of our current morality is like saying slavery should be reinstated because it's the contextual system under which our country was made as strong and powerful as it is.

I gave the car travel analogy as an example of an invention that works pretty well, despite what problems it has. Not as an example of a an enduring institution. If we had hover cars, we would switch to those. Changing my analogy to something evil like slavery, which then implies a correlation to religion, isn't fair.

Just as a matter of historical clarification, now that you do mention slavery, it is not what made the US powerful, in fact it tore it apart. The slave states were pretty much only agricultural, party because of the longer growing season, and yes, because of the labor situation. The north, where slavery was prohibited, prospered much more in every other regard: manufacturing, trade, diplomacy, the arts, charitable institutions, urban development, etc. And don't forget that the abolitionist movement was Christian.

[flippyshark]

Originally Posted by David E

And don't forget that the abolitionist movement was Christian.

Alas, so was the pro-slavery faction.

[David E]

Originally Posted by flippyshark

Alas, so was the pro-slavery faction.

In profession and affiliation more than in deed. It's hard to live up to standards and do the right thing when you have a lot on the line. In historical context, slavery was near universal for all of history, and after US abolition, only took 50-100 more years or so to clean up most of the world.